In the perfect old fashioned cocktail is a quick dash or two of aromatic bitters. From one bottle of bitters you could make hundreds of cocktails, but that’s not the only way to drain the container.

Another option is to move bitters from the liquor cabinet to the kitchen pantry and get cooking.

Bitters, a high-proof blend of alcohol, water, sugar and plant extracts (herbs, spices, bark, rind), can flavor meals as well as cocktails. That notion is something old, and something new, for a product that seems one-dimensional to many of us.

Recipes for appetizers to desserts appeared in “The Secret of Good Taste,” a 48-page booklet published in 1961 on behalf of the Angostura brand of bitters. The Trinidad-based company produced subsequent cookbooks, too, and today posts recipes online.

Wisconsin is squeaky cheese curds, fishing spots, Packers fans and time spent by the lake. It’s also the Milwaukee entrepreneur, the Hmong artisan and the dairy farmer. Stories in our Be Wisconsin series look at deeply rooted tradition and at the surprising ways the state culture is changing.

Wisconsin is squeaky cheese curds, fishing spots, Packers fans and time spent by the lake. It’s also the Milwaukee entrepreneur, the Hmong artisan and the dairy farmer. Stories in our Be Wisconsin series look at deeply rooted tradition and at the surprising ways the state culture is changing.

“Bitters in the Kitchen” is a segment of the 2011 book “Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All” by Brad Thomas Parsons (Ten Speed Press). Among the recipes: broiled grapefruit with bitters, a bourbon-bitters glaze for ham and a pudding with bitters and chocolate.

Research and development work at Milwaukee-based Bittercube, whose small-batch bitters production began in 2009, pays attention to how bitters can enhance both food and drink.

Example No. 1: Use Cherry Bark Vanilla Bittercube Bitters in a Manhattan cocktail, or as a 1-to-1 substitute for vanilla extract in chocolate chip cookies, and other baking.

Why bother? The average kitchen pantry extract involves a single plant (lemon, peppermint, almond), but bitters is a mix of several long-steeped ingredients, which deepens the flavor profile of whatever hits the stovetop or oven.

Orange bitters at Bittercube, for instance, include toasted coriander, caraway and cardamom as well as other undivulged spices, orange peel and orange juice. Incorporate it in seafood dishes, which Fredrich says can be as simple as adding a drop to a seared sea scallop.

“The range of tastes are floral to spicy,” says Brandon Reyes, research and development coordinator, of the company’s nine-product lineup.

Bittercube co-founder Ira Koplowitz is ready to mix drinks at Bittercube Bar & Bazaar, 4828 W. Lisbon Ave. The small company does pay attention to how bitters can enhance food as well as drinks.(Photo: Michael Sears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Fredrich acknowledges that food recipe development is not a big part of Bittercube work, as most professional chefs and home cooks “would rather just use seasonings in cooking.” Cooking with bitters “is definitely more for the adventurous cook.”

It comes with a cost. The price of a one-ounce bottle of Bittercube Bitters is about the same as a four-ounce bottle of Angostura and roughly twice as much ounce for ounce as McCormick pure vanilla extract.

Fredrich says Bittercube’s complex formulas and all-natural and high-quality ingredients are what make the difference.

In Madison, staff at Avenue Club and the Bubble Up Bar teach consumers how to make their own batch of customized bitters. The bar stocks at least one dozen kinds of bitters (including Bittercube products), but Liz Stolz, general manager, says her chefs don’t use bitters in cooking.

That changes 250 miles north, at bitters-centric Nelsen’s Hall on Washington Island, off the tip of Door County.

“We experiment with it,” says Doug Delaporte, cook and co-owner, with Robin Ditello, of the bar-restaurant. Bitters go into some of his broth-based soups, plus chili, and Delaporte uses bitters when making the Bitters Burger.

“Maybe four shakes,” the cook says. “Cover the burger with it. Bitters makes it surprisingly good.” These recipes are not rigid, and bitters seem like a loose substitute for Worcestershire sauce.

Nelsen’s Hall goes through 80 or 90 cases of bitters per year, Delaporte says, compared to his estimate of four to five for the average Wisconsin bar. The big difference has more to do with drinking than cooking.

That’s because Nelsen’s Hall is best known for issuing a Bitters Club membership card to any adult willing to down a shot of bitters. It’s been that way since the 1950s, which makes Nelsen’s Hall among Angostura’s best customers worldwide.

Angostura, a leading global brand of bitters, is ubiquitous in Wisconsin taverns. The company’s still-secret and complex blend of aromatic bitters was created by a medical doctor in 1824 as a tonic for seasickness. Now at least 13 million gallons are distilled annually at the company’s 20-acre headquarters in Trinidad.

That’s a lot of dashin’ and muddlin’ behind the bar, but oodles of food recipes at angosturabitters.com use the product by the teaspoon and tablespoon: from pancakes with rum butter syrup to a mayo drizzle for roasted vegetables.

Now a Chicago bar is elbowing in on the bitters love, too. Good Intentions, in the Logan Square neighborhood, is billed as the only place in the world with Angostura on tap.

It is sold by the shot and used by the shot in craft cocktails, such as the minty-sweet Angostura Flip and blood-red AB Negative. But the cocktail bar has yet to name bitters as an ingredient in its food descriptions.

Bitters Boot Camp lasts about 2 hours and includes nibbbles and sips of four different old-fashioned cocktails.(Photo: Mary Bergin)

BITTERS BOOT CAMP

Rely on a tested recipe to make a small bottle of vodka-based bitters. Or come up with your own formula based on 20 ingredient choices. One recommended combo: cinnamon, molasses and sarsaparilla. Another: orange, coriander and cardamom.

Before the lab work begins, students sip four versions of the old fashioned cocktail and sample classic Wisconsin fare (such as deep-fried cheese curds and fish nuggets) while learning about supper club history and the impact of bitters on Wisconsin culture.

Cost is $35 (if not drinking alcohol, it’s $25), and the class lasts about two hours. Groups of at least eight can book a private session.

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THE BITTERCUBE EXPERIENCE

Bittercube, 4828 W. Lisbon Ave., makes it easy for consumers to figure out how to use the company’s line of bitters because in the production facility is a bar where seasonal and other specialty cocktails are made. The bar opens at 5 p.m., Thursday through Saturday.

Visitors take 30-minute tours by appointment and learn about products in research and development. Open daily is Bittercube Bazaar, which sells small-batch liquors, bar gadgets, limited-release and other Bittercube products.

On the event calendar are music, cocktail tastings and workshops.

CLOSE

Visitors to the historic pub take a shot of bitters to join its prestigious club.
Chelsey Lewis

THE BITTERS CLUB

Nelsen’s Hall marks its 120th year of business this year on Washington Island. No Wisconsin bar has legally stayed open longer, and that is because founder Tom Nelsen had a pharmacy license.

He stayed open to sell Angostura bitters as a stomach tonic during Prohibition. The pharmacist/barkeep reportedly drank bitters by the pint.

Join the club at Nelsen’s by drinking a shot of bitters, just as tens of thousands have done since the 1950s to earn a membership card with a bitters-dipped thumbprint.

Owners of Nelsen’s Hall say they order 10,000 membership cards per year and go through all. The bar-restaurant is open seasonally, May to late November, and during football games.

RECIPES

Cream of Cucumber Soup, with Angostura bitters, can be served hot or cold.(Photo: Mary Bergin)

First Dash: Soup

This recipe for a light soup comes from “The Taste that Changed the World,” a 2001 cookbook published by House of Angostura, Trinidad. Serve it hot or cold.

Cukes brighten in color and soften as they cook. We decided on a smooth puree, choosing “pulse” in the blender. The book’s recipe editor, Wendy Rahamut, says she always favors fresh mint instead of dried. She operates a cooking school in San Fernando, Trinidad.

Process mixture in blender. Reheat and season with salt and pepper. Add cream or evaporated milk and bitters just before serving. Garnish with chopped mint. Serve hot or cold.

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Orange bitters give this vinaigrette, developed by Bittercube, an orangey flavor.(Photo: Mary Bergin)

Second Dash: Salad

Consider this recipe — one of two developed exclusively for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel readers by Bittercube’s Anastacia Nielsen — when preparing a salad that contains fruit, or as a substitute for lemon-poppyseed dressing.

Deepen the flavor profile with optional ingredients. Mix in freshly chopped herbs such as basil or thyme, poppyseed or honey (“a little sweetness will balance out the acidity from the vinegar,” reports Paul Fredrich).

The possibilities? Endless — and if you don’t like the taste of oranges, swap it out for a different Bittercube Bitters flavor.

We added 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 cup of blueberries to the vinaigrette, using half the dressing with a 5-ounce container of baby lettuce greens.

Both of Bittercube's Jamaican bitters go into this jerk chicken marinade.(Photo: Mary Bergin)

Third Dash: Entrée

Serve this marinated chicken with rice and black beans, advises Anastacia Nielsen, kitchen coordinator at Bittercube Bitters. If a can of black beans seems too mundane, mix in a bit of the excess jerk sauce.

Why use two kinds of Jamaican-spiked bitters? They contain similar ingredients but in different proportions, Bittercube spokesman Paul Fredrich says, so using both “gave the overall marinade a more balanced taste.”

He says Jamaican No.1 “has more assertive clove, ginger, allspice and black pepper notes up front,” and Jamaican No.2 “has brighter notes of grapefruit and hibiscus up front — the jerk seasonings reside more in the background.”

What else? Jamaican No. 1 reportedly works well in gingerbread recipes too.

When testing this chicken recipe, we removed the seeds and stem from our jalapeños before blending them with other ingredients.

Place remaining marinade in small saucepan and bring to a boil, to make a sauce.

Remove chicken from oven and finish on a medium-high grill for 10 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Juices will be clear, not red.

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Carrot Cutlets get a dash of flavor from Angostura bitters.(Photo: Mary Bergin)

Fourth Dash: Side Dish

We liked the notion of balancing the heat from jerk chicken with the sweetness of carrots. The recipe for these pudgy, hash-like patties comes from “The Taste that Changed the World” and House of Angostura. We used dried herbs in smaller quantities; parsley, for example was cut to 2 tablespoons.

Final Dash: Dessert

House of Angostura also provides this final course in our all-bitters meal. We used canola oil and unnecessarily fretted about how thin the batter was when poured into baking pans. All worked out fine, without recipe adjustment.

The finished cake was moist, dense, chocolaty rich and not too sweet. The bitters gave it a slight, unexpected kick of spice.

Beat in boiling water gradually. Divide batter between layer pans and bake in preheated oven 25 minutes, or until a toothpick into center of each pan comes out clean. Loosen cake from pan edges, remove and cool.

For frosting, combine remaining ½ cup cocoa powder, ½ cup honey, 1 teaspoon bitters and the cream. Beat until fluffy. Spread frosting evenly over sides and top of one cooled cake layer. Place second layer on top and cover with remaining frosting.

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